"Wheeler is much smarter and will try to keep his efforts under the radar in implementing Trump's destructive agenda," Vice President for Political Affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund Jeremy Symons told POLITICO. "That should scare anyone who breathes."

Wheeler began his DC career at the EPA as a special assistant in the pollution prevention and toxics office, according to his EPA bio. He has now been in DC for more than 20 years, and followed up his EPA post by working for infamous climate change denier and Republican Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, The New York Times reported. Inhofe once even threw a snowball on the Senate floor to assert that global warming wasn't happening, according to Vox.

Wheeler is one of several former Inhofe staffers, known as the "Inhofe mafia," who have risen to prominent environment or energy positions in the Trump administration or work with influential lobbying firms, according to The New York Times.

After leaving government work, Wheeler worked at a law firm that lobbied for the coal industry, NBC reported. His firm's biggest client was Murray Energy Corp., whose CEO, Robert E. Murray, donated $300,000 to Trump's inauguration fund and provided Trump with a wishlist of environmental policies he wanted changed to benefit coal plants, The New York Times reported.

Environmental groups are concerned about the legacy Wheeler brings with him as he prepares to lead the EPA.

"He fought against safeguards to limit mercury poisoning. He fought against protections to limit the amount of ozone in our skies. He fought against air pollution from neighboring states. He's a climate denier. So, sadly, he fits in well with EPA leadership," Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune told POLITICO.

Critics are also concerned that Wheeler's decades of experience, and reputation as a rule follower, will mean his deregulatory efforts will stand up to legal scrutiny more effectively than Pruitt's rushed attempts at rollbacks.

"The problem with the Pruitt approach is it's like a sugar high," Democratic lobbyist and former Energy Department staff member Jeff Navin told POLITICO. "It feels really, really good for a moment, but if you're not following rules and procedure, not laying down substance for the decision you're making, you're not going to last very long."

But that is not Wheeler's style. "He will be similar to Pruitt in terms of the agenda—he understands the Trump administration and will carry out the agenda," Matthew Dempsey, who worked for Inhofe alongside Pruitt, told The New York Times. "But he's been around Washington a long time. He knows how DC works and he does things by the book."

However, it is not known how long Wheeler will head the EPA before Trump nominates a permanent replacement for Pruitt. Trump might suggest Wheeler for the role, but The New York Times reported that Wheeler himself has said he does not want the job. He also wrote a Facebook post critical of Trump during the 2016 election, which might dissuade the president from selecting him.

Other possible permanent replacements for Pruitt include Donald Van der Vaart, a senior environmental official from North Carolina who Pruitt appointed to an EPA scientific advisory board, The New York Times reported.

Sixteen-year-old climate action leader Greta Thunberg stood alongside European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker Thursday in Brussels as he indicated—after weeks of climate strikes around the world inspired by the Swedish teenager—that the European Union has heard the demands of young people and pledged more than $1 trillion over the next seven years to address the crisis of a rapidly heating planet.

In the financial period beginning in 2021, Juncker said, the EU will devote a quarter of its budget to solving the crisis.

A new study reveals the health risks posed by the making, use and disposal of plastics. Jeffrey Phelps / Getty Images

With eight million metric tons of plastic entering the world's oceans every year, there is growing concern about the proliferation of plastics in the environment. Despite this, surprisingly little is known about the full impact of plastic pollution on human health.

But a first-of-its-kind study released Tuesday sets out to change that. The study, Plastic & Health: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet, is especially groundbreaking because it looks at the health impacts of every stage in the life cycle of plastics, from the extraction of the fossil fuels that make them to their permanence in the environment. While previous studies have focused on particular products, manufacturing processes or moments in the creation and use of plastics, this study shows that plastics pose serious health risks at every stage in their production, use and disposal.